Jeremiah 3:14-17 / Matthew 13:18-29
Loyalty is a virtue that is of much value in the battlefield and it is a test of one's integrity to stay with the leader or commander when the going is really rough.
If loyalty is of such importance on the human level, then loyalty to God needs no further elaboration and can be said to be a foregone conclusion.
We may think that disloyalty to God is utterly appalling and stupidity in the highest degree.
Yet in the 1st reading, God called His people "disloyal children" and urged them to come back.
Yet as in any case of disloyalty, the cause usually begins with pride, and with that, the follower thinks that he can do better than the leader, the student thinks he is better than the teacher, the disciple better than the master, and in the case of God's people, they just want the freedom to follow the dictates of their own heart.
And using the parable of the sower in the gospel, disloyalty is like the ground thinking that it can bear a harvest without any seed being sowed in it.
Disloyalty, whether it is to God or to our superiors, usually begins with dissatisfaction that will grow into a resentment, and with pride eating in, then we think of what we want and how to break free.
Hence we have to check our hearts of undue worries and overt worldly attachments that create thorns and patches of rock that hardens our hearts and blocks the Word of God from entering.
May the Word of God bring us back from following the dictates of our own hearts, and may the Word of God soften our hearts to bear a harvest of life and love.